Many of the greatest movies ever made contain sequels and even trilogies, but most of these follow-up features are never as good as the original film. The same law of diminishing returns rings true with content. If you want to make a lasting impact with your audience, you need to be boldly original with the content that you produce.
Mediocrity Means Forgettable
If your content is forgettable, why even create it in the first place? The trouble is that today’s businesses are under pressure to churn out content to gain online visibility, and it’s much easier to regurgitate content or barely skim the surface on topics that your audience wants to hear about. While this approach may allow businesses to hit their content quantity goals, it does little to make a positive lasting impression with consumers.
Another reason why businesses publish mediocre content is because they’re partnering with a digital marketing agency that doesn’t aim to produce high-quality content. Instead, some content marketing agencies do just enough to publish the promised amount of articles each month rather than focus on delivering original, value-added content.
If you’re questioning whether your content is mediocre, take the time to read through your blog posts, whitepapers, e-books, and website content. If the perspective that you offer is too similar to other articles that consumers can find in a Google search, it’s time to re-evaluate your content marketing strategy and make originality the focus. That may mean trimming down the number of articles that you publish each month because creating meaningful, value-added content takes time. However, it’s much better to publish one to two posts each month that really resonate with your audience than seven to eight mediocre posts that your readers will immediately forget about.
Best Practices for Creating Original Content
If you want your content to stand apart from the sea of articles that are floating around on the internet, you must publish high-quality, original content. Outlined below are some best practices for helping you to accomplish this:
1. Tap Into Readers’ Emotions
If you want your content to be memorable, find a way to connect with your audience on an emotional level. You can use content to educate your readers all day long. However, if you don’t evoke some type of emotion from your audience with your content, your content probably won’t resonate with them and you’ll have little luck inspiring them to take action.
When it comes to tapping into readers’ emotions, look for opportunities to insert heartfelt messaging. Put yourself in your audience’s shoes and consider the emotions that inspire them to take action. Keep the focus on your audience and demonstrate empathy when addressing their pain points. Once you’ve hit home the point that they’re dealing with a frustrating problem, give your readers hope by offering a solution.
Consumers are more willing to buy from a company that they have an emotional connection with, so take the time to establish a connection with your content and leverage it for a lasting impact.
2. Don’t Be Afraid to Be Controversial
There’s a good chance that the topic you’re covering has been addressed at nauseum. However, by offering a fresh perspective–even if it’s controversial–is a powerful way to create original content.
By definition, a controversy is an argument that some people strongly disagree with, which is why your business needs to proceed with caution when publishing controversial content. However, when executed properly, controversial content will attract attention, trigger an emotional response, and inspire massive engagement.
3. Be Open to Guest Posts
If you want to expand your audience organically by publishing original content, open up your business blog to guest posts. By including content that has been published by other experts in your industry on your blog, you’ll be able to offer a variety of perspectives, which will make you more credible and reliable. Plus, you’ll benefit from being able to publish more content without having to put in the blood, sweat, and tears yourself.
In summary, when it comes to content marketing, your business can’t afford to settle for anything less than originality. Our creative team at New York Ave specializes in building personalized digital marketing strategies that will make your business more memorable with your target audience. Our emphasis on quality and use of original content allows us to help our clients stand apart from the noise.
By partnering with New York Ave, you’ll never have to settle for anything less than originality. Contact us to learn how we can help make your business more memorable with high-quality, original content.
